The effect was discovered in 1969, when amorphous germanium (a-Ge) films crystallized at surprisingly low temperatures when in contact with Al, Ag, Cu, or Sn.
[4] Likewise, the MIC evolved from simple temperature-driven annealing approaches to others involving laser[5] [6] or microwave radiation,[7] [8] for example.
Upon annealing, crystallization starts from the portion of the amorphous film that is in contact with the metal species, and the MIC proceeds laterally.
So far, lots of studies have been carried out to investigate the MIC phenomenon -- invariably by applying different sample production methods and characterization tools.
According to them, the MIC process is highly susceptible to the type and amount of the metallic species, the sample history (production method, geometry and annealing details), as well as to the methodology to determine crystallization.